Creation according to ancient cosmology.
In ancient and biblical cosmology, humans and the earth were the centers of the God’s dominion. THE MAN WAS IT! Accordingly, theological thinkers maintained that all activity by God and heavenly beings was directed down to earth. The ancient times’ people did not know that the universe existed. They did not even know that earth on which they lived was a planet. The earth was the only thing that God had to keep him occupied, so they thought. The “good and innocent people,” they thought, suffered consequences due to conflicts and changes in feelings among heavenly beings. Humans, in general, viewed God as a strict defender of his ways. God, they thought, often imposed his way at the unexplainable expanse to the people on earth. People did not do anything wrong, yet they suffered, they thought.
Copernicus, however, to the “good Man’s dismay, discovered that earth was not the center of God’s dominion, the universe. His study showed that earth was only one of several planets that orbit the sun. Soon after, even the sun was not the center of the universe. The Man was not it! Copernicus dethroned him. Theologians, especially the in rising Protestantism, screamed foul. How dare anyone say that Man, the crowning act of God’s creation, is no longer the center of it all? Many theologians thought and maintained that God created Man because he needed humankind. Therefore, humanity cannot be inconsequential. That is why all activity by God and heavenly beings are directed to earth only, they thought. Therefore, not only did Copernicus clip the human pride but also denied God of his essential creation.
Not only did Copernicus’ discovery dethrone Man, but it also created a problem with gravity, as understood by scientists and theologians. Scientists and theologians maintained that gravity proves that the earth is the center of God’s dominion. Everything falls to earth. It did so because there was no other place to go. Thus, nothing ever fell away from earth. In an attempt to resolve the problem with gravity, Isaac Newton formulated the classical theory of gravitation. Newton’s theory of gravitation postulated the “clockwork universe.” Theologians found solace in the clockwork universe. Accordingly, they rebranded God as a God of order and beauty.
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